Sidney Crosby surprises fan with visit and at-home signing session

It may be Sidney Crosby's birthday today, but it's one of his Nova Scotia fans whogot a gift.

Darryl Pottie is a big hockey fan, so when Crosby his favourite player was in Halifax for his Stanley Cup parade last month, he grabbed a piece of plywood and made a sign appealing to the star to sign his jerseys.

He put it up by his home in Enfield, N.S., hoping Crosbywould spot it and heed its message.

Crosby came and went, but the jerseys remained unsigned. Pottie took the sign down.

But on Friday, nearly three weeks after the parade, his wife Patricia answered a door knock in her bathing suit and found the two-time Stanley Cup winner and Olympic gold medallist standing there, pen in hand.

"I wasn't going to walk away, so I kind of opened the door just a crack," she told CBC News.

It turnedout Crosby had seen the sign and remembered where the house was.

Pottie invited him in and he spent 15 minutes chatting with her and her daughter, Madison. He signed those jerseys and a photo of Madison playing hockey, and posed for more pictures.

One of the jerseys might have looked familiar, as the Potties bought it after he wore it in a game.

The only person who missed out on the visit was Darryl, who was at work. He found out when his wife emailed him a photo of Crosby and Madison that said:"Look who dropped in."

"I'm thinking, where did this picture come from and then I realized it was taken in my living room," said Darryl Pottie.

He isn't upset he missed Crosby's visit.

"Absolutely not disappointing.He signed my jerseys, and that's amazing."

Pottie plans to make window boxes for the signed items so he can show them off to his friends.

Crosby turned 29 years old on Sunday. He was born on the seventh day of the eighth month in 1987, which is why he wears the number 87.

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